The Neverending Season

By PHIL JACKSON

Published on May 16, 2008

It's almost over! No, not annual Town Meeting, but the 2007-2008 sports cycle for my two children, whose travel soccer seasons will end in early June. I commented last fall that youth sports today place unreasonable demands on children and their families. I considered these well-founded observations at the time, but my first season as a travel hockey coach made it clear just how right I was.

My 10-year-old son and I started our hockey season on August 29, 2007, and ended on April 6, 2008. We skated three to five times each week, had more than 50 scheduled practices, and played two games each weekend. We played 42 games, four more than the UMass men's Division 1 hockey team played in its six-month season. It's worth noting that this was not an "A" team, and we didn't participate in any outside tournaments that added more games to our schedule.

Our regular season record was 3-22-3, and we didn't win for the first time until our final game of 2007. The majority of our losses were blowouts by double-digit margins, and I can tell you that my bag of coaching platitudes was nearly emptied as I continued to look for ways to console my players as the losses piled up.

Even if we'd won every game, it still would have been too long. Parents, players and coaches were physically and emotionally exhausted by the end of what I dubbed "The Neverending Season." Aside from allowing the rinks to sell ice, and lots of it, I'm not sure what we were trying to accomplish for these 9- and 10-year-old players through such a demanding schedule.

My coaching commitments now span almost the entire calendar year, with only a brief respite in the summer. I volunteer my time to coach my daughter's travel soccer team and my son's hockey team for many reasons, ones that are likely shared by others who coach.

First, and most importantly, it's time spent with my children doing fun activities that we enjoy, and we find competition challenging and rewarding. I love coaching because it gives me an opportunity to work with other young people, and it satisfies my passion for teaching. Lastly, it involves me in the community and I meet many families I probably wouldn't if it weren't for sports.

I believe there are several consequences to today's demands on young athletes. There's a coaching maxim that states: You play as you practice. Too little practice does not provide adequate individual preparation to compete ably and safely. Too often we are putting children in competitive situations for which they are not adequately prepared.

Younger athletes need to learn fundamentals, not just of the game and its skills, but also of individual movement and conditioning. The ratio of practices to games should be at least 2:1, perhaps even 3:1 for the youngest players. However, the number of games required each week during the season makes this impossible.

Too many weekly commitments also make it difficult for everyone to attend them all. Absences compromise the group dynamics that are such an integral part of any team sport. Players and coaches simply don't develop the same level of knowledge, trust and familiarity with each other.

The team's competitiveness can also be compromised by absences, as teamwork is developed in practice but tested under game conditions.

While hockey is notorious for its time demands, it is not alone. Parents and players of other sports - soccer, swimming, basketball and lacrosse - will confirm that these sports, too, require long seasons, travel and multiple commitments each week. Families sacrifice many things - meals, downtime, weekends - to support their children's sports, but the many rewards can be compromised when the sport becomes a part-time job.

National studies show that the majority of children who start a sport as a young child will not play that sport as a high school student. The data indicate that sports participation peaks at age 11 and declines steadily after that, rising as high as 75 percent for a given sport. The number one reason cited? Too much pressure to win, which is followed closely by the time commitment required. It's difficult for me, as both a parent and a coach, to justify schedules that turn play to work.

I accept that the days of pick-up games and house leagues are gone, but the pendulum seems to have swung too far in the wrong direction. By any objective measure, the demands of today's extended or multiple seasons are unreasonable.

Players, parents and coaches seem to have little choice but to either accept the status quo or to not participate at all.

How have the sports leagues come to rule our lives so? Why isn't there more opposition from parents? Is this really what our children want and need? Are the true goals of youth sports - promoting exercise, fostering teamwork and developing sportsmanship - being served?

Phil Jackson, a learning consultant, lives on Lincoln Avenue.